Volume XIX No. 4 December 2007 ggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg Gems in the Murk By Clif Ashcraft (as told to Ray Shapp) I just got a Nikon D40 camera. It was a factory re-conditioned used one, with warranty and 18-55mm zoom lens. Seems in good shape and cost me about two thirds of a new one. Last night I tried it out with an additional lens I bought with it, a 50mm f/1.8 non-zoom lens using the "No Flash" position. I mounted it on a tripod and pointed it at Perseus, covered the lens with my hand, pressed the button, removed my hand and waited for it to close the shutter. The camera seemed to be limiting the exposure based on the light coming from some thin wispy clouds of a reddish hue that covered the field of view. Exposure was about three seconds. I took five exposures like this and stacked them in Photoshop. Turned out that I could pretty much eliminate the tail lights and clouds by going to the histogram and the red image. There were two peaks. I moved the left slider to the right to elimi- nate the left peak, and the red clouds went away with-out affecting the stars at all. Editor's note: Clif sent these two views of Comet Holmes 17p to several members in the club. I was so impressed by the amazing results he was able to achieve with a tripod mounted digital SLR and some really adept processing in Photoshop, that I asked him to allow me to publish his results here. Dr. Dale Gary's reaction was to say that Clif is making this process look too easy, and soon everybody will be doing it. If these images inspire you to try your hand at this game, then that will be a great legacy of Clif's work. The image on this page is one of the raw exposures. A cropped and annotated section of the stack is on page two. As of November 29th, it looks like the comet is developing a short tail, or at least an elongated ver-sion of the inner coma. The bright dot near where the nucleus of the comet should be may be a star, or at least an overlay of the nucleus upon a background star. I used the "no flash" preset on the Nikon D40. When this preset is used under dim light conditions, the camera opens the lens up all the way and takes a time exposure until sufficient image density is obtained. When pointed at the Perseus region of Comet Holmes 17p, I believe the component of the subject which lim-ited the exposure was a thin wispy cloud layer, illumi-nated by the red tail lights on the nearby NJ Turnpike. I took several exposures and after eliminating the ones with the colorful trails of planes passing over-head, I had 5 "good" ones to work with. These all had a pervasive red haze over the whole field of view, but brighter in places where the cloud layer was thickest. One of these "raw" images is shown on page one. The photo on this page shows pretty bad lens flare on the overexposed image of Mirfak, but this is near the edge of the field and it is an f/1.8 lens. The fainter stars are pretty round, given that this is a stack of un-guided exposures. I will probably get some more pictures taken this way (the comet got too big to photograph with the ST-8 on my 12.5-inch 'scope), but with the comet better centered so the flare on stars around it is not so bad. You should have seen me taking this picture. I actu-ally was tilting the tripod back to point higher in the sky than its elevation movement would allow and resting the back of the camera on one of the posts supporting my roll off roof. I guess that makes it a bipod and head mount. The camera needs to be mounted on the telescope. Editor's note: For a detailed step-by-step tutorial of the procedures Clif used, please see his illustrated article in the Tutorials & More section of this website. Look for "PhotoShop Techniques" in the BEYOND BASICS section. Stewart's Skybox by Stewart Meyers A t November's meeting, our featured speaker was the delightful Dr. Kimberly Weaver. Her presentation dealt with the various space telescopes that have revolutionized how we perceive the universe. In fact, she even touched on the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). So, to expand on the topic, this month's column will discuss the JWST. The Sequel Begins The idea of a successor to the HST began in 1989. Ricardo Giacconi, the first director of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STSCI), thought that it was a good time to think about what to do after the HST finished its mission. So, Garth Illingworth, also of the STSCI, held a workshop to discuss ideas for a new instrument. The result was an 8- meter telescope resembling a dish antenna mounted on a platform that would carry instruments. However, these plans were forgotten when it was discovered that the HST had a defective primary mirror. It was not until 1994 when the idea of a successor to the HST was considered again. This time, the Asso-ciation of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) launched a study to decide what the HST replacement should do. They concluded that it must have infrared imaging capability. Also, it should be placed somewhere other than low Earth orbit. Some study participants thought a high Earth orbit would do. Others favored placing it in solar orbit about 1/3 the way to Jupiter. The resulting instrument would resemble the HST except it would have a 4-meter mirror (the HST has a 2.4 meter mirror). This time NASA was interested in the idea. The Great Corporate Race In 1996, NASA thought it was time to plan for the replacement of the HST. So, using some of the rec-ommendations from the AURA study (mainly the in-frared requirement), they held a competition to de-sign the telescope. Three aerospace firms and NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Center entered. While all four had dish-shaped telescopes, three of them had the telescopes open and attached to a rectangu-lar platform that had solar panels, instruments, and worked as a sunshield. Only Lockheed Martin was different in that the shielding for the telescope was a cylinder and had a pair of solar panels sticking out of the bottom. However, only one design could win and, in the end, TRW (which would later be bought by Northrop Grumman) won with a design that used a segmented primary as seen in an image from STSCI below. Illustration of the James Webb Space Telescope - Space Telescope Science Institute http://jwstsite.stsci.edu/gallery/graphics/screen_jpeg_f2.gif) Though they did not win the design competition, Ball Aerospace would wind up being awarded the sub-contract to construct the segmented mirror. You Made The Scope Too Big The telescope, now referred to as the Next Gen- eration Space Telescope (NGST), wasn't out of the woods yet. The initial specification was for an 8-meter mirror. However, this turned out to be too big for the budget (the NGST had to cost less than the HST). So, NASA changed the specification to a mir-ror between 6 and 6.5 meters in diameter. TRW made the alteration and work went ahead. The Name Game Every space telescope has a name, and in 2002, the NGST was named the James Webb Space Tele-scope (JWST). James Webb was not an astrono-mer, but a NASA administrator during much of the Apollo era. While it seemed an odd choice to the astronomical community, NASA explained that it was in recognition of how Webb managed to keep sci-ence missions going in the Apollo-era despite politi-cal pressure to dump them and devote the resources to manned spaceflight. The JWST Itself Now we turn to the instrument itself. The mirror is 6.5 meters across and consists of 18 segments. Unlike in most telescopes, the mirror segments are not made of glass or ceramic, but of beryllium. Be-ryllium was chosen due to its strength, low weight, and ability to handle the expected temperatures. When launched, the mirror will be folded so it can fit inside the launch vehicle. Once in space, the mirror will unfold. This was a major technological challenge since the mirror segments would have to maintain their alignment. The JWST does have a means of making slight adjustments to the mirror segments to ensure they are aligned properly. The color of the mirror segments might seem odd, but this is because the JWST is designed mainly for observing in the infrared. The reason it is so dedicated to infrared astronomy is that much of what interests astronomers today is best seen in the infrared. Very distant galaxies have their light shifted into the infrared. Star formation is studied in the in-frared as that light is dimmed less by the dusty clouds where star birth takes place. And the dusty disks around young stars where planets are formed are mainly visible in the infrared, though the JWST probably will not be able to image any planets di-rectly. Getting to the question of whether the JWST can observe solar system objects, it seems that it will concentrate on deep space targets and not do much, if any, work in the solar system. While the JWST might be used to study the slow-moving and dim denizens of the Kuiper Belt, it seems that there is no official mention of any solar system studies. Most likely, the JWST will be so booked with deep space observations, the Kuiper Belt work might never hap-pen. The JWST will carry only four instruments. Two of these are infrared cameras that will generate high-resolution infrared images, MIDI (a mid-infrared camera) and NIRCAM (Near Infrared Camera). One, NIRSPEC (Near Infrared Spectrometer), will gener-ate spectra in infrared frequencies. And the final in-strument, FGS- TFI, will utilize the fine guidance sen-sors to make observations. Then, there is the orbit. While the HST is in a low Earth orbit, the JWST will instead be in what is known as the L-2 point. This is located about a mil- lion miles behind Earth as seen from the Sun and is one of the five points (known as Lagrangian or L points) where an object can remain almost stationary due to the balance between the gravity of the Earth, the Sun, and the Moon which were first calculated by French mathematician Joseph- Louis Lagrange in 1772. Diagram of the five L points for Earth - NASA - http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/images/lagrange2.jpg L-2 was chosen due to its distance from Earth, which minimizes the amount of heat interference the JWST would receive. Finally, there is one other feature that might be added to the JWST. There has been talk of adding a metal ring to the platform to allow docking by the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) if the need should ever arise in the future, even though the JWST is not intended to be astronaut-repairable. But, as of this writing, this matter has not been decided. 2013: The Year JWST is Launched? Barring any problems with the instrument, national calamities, or budget cuts, the JWST is expected to launch in 2013. In a first for a NASA mission, the JWST will be sent up on an Ariane 5, the heaviest launcher used by the European Space Agency (ESA). This is not due to a lack of patriotism. It is simply due to the fact that the Ariane 5 is the only rocket with a fairing (the bit at the top) that is big enough to carry the JWST. No matter when it launches, the JWST will follow in the tradition of other space telescopes and make many unexpected discoveries. New 2008 PowerPoint Class for AAI members " Receive instruction on PowerPoint basics and new techniques " Class taught by Bonnie Witzgall at Sperry Observatory in two parts on one day - plan to attend both parts " Date: Saturday February 9th, 2008 2pm to 5pm and 7:30pm to 9:30pm " Class Requirements: Laptop with extension cord Any level PowerPoint program " either Windows compatible or Mac Big dose of enthusiasm Must be an AAI member Pencils, paper, pens, and desire to learn " Free promotional material and e-images given to attendees " All classroom work done at Sperry using AAI's projector " No previous knowledge of PowerPoint or Word required Students from AAI's 2007 PowerPoint class are welcome " Learn to use PowerPoint skills for your future talks educational talks, school presentations Friday night lectures for the public " Free PowerPoint class just another benefit provided by AAI for our members in their service to the community Interested? See Bonnie or Al Witzgall to sign up or send an email to apwitzgall@earthlink.net. Learn a unique skill offered by your club. You never know when you may want to share information representing AAI. Save the date: February 9th, 2008 (snow date 02/16) Learn PowerPoint in one all-inclusive day. You can do this! Black Holes: How Big Can They Be? By Jeremy Carlo I s there any theoretical maximum mass to which a black hole can grow? In other words, assuming that is has a continuous supply of nearby matter, can a black hole continue to accrete mass indefinitely? A statement was made by an audience member during an "Ask The Astronomers" session recently in the Fridays At Sperry program that gave rise to this question. The answer, to my knowledge, is no. A black hole can be as big as it wants; the only limitation would be imposed by the maximum mass of the precursor object which collapses into the black hole (although, even then the hole could accrete additional mass indefinitely anyway). In the case of a stellar mass black hole, the maximum mass a star can have is on the order of 100-200 solar masses based on stability considera-tions (about 80-90% of which is lost due to a strong stellar wind given off in the supernova and/or Eta Carinae-type outbursts), so the maximum initial mass for a stellar black hole may be on the order of a few dozen solar masses. New research using somewhat more detailed calculations could raise or lower this limit. However, it is theorized that in the early universe very large clumps of mass may have collapsed di-rectly into black holes without bothering to go through the whole stellar phase (so the stability ar-guments may or may not apply). And we do know of supermassive black holes (several million to sev-eral billion solar masses) at the centers of galaxies. There is a limit on the rate at which any object of mass M can accrete additional mass, although that just means you have to wait a little longer. The maximum rate does scale with mass (kind of like a snowball rolling downhill), so the more massive a black hole gets the more it can suck in. There is a maximum mass on white dwarfs of about 1.4 solar masses (the Chandrasekhar limit) and an upper limit on neutron stars of ap-proximately 2-3 solar masses (the Oppenheimer-Volkoff limit). Both are due to very different physical limits, and both can be understood through rather simple heuristic arguments. But no such limit is known (at least to me) for black holes; in fact if anything they become more stable the more mass they have (for one reason, their effective temperature decreases, which dra-matically decreases the rate of Hawking radiation, the theorized mode by which black holes may lose mass, and by which very small black holes may eventually evaporate). Bottom line: Black holes can always grow more massive if additional material comes within their grasp. GENERAL MEETING DECEMBER 21, 2007 "After Galaxies Collide" - Dr. Charles Liu, City University of New York, College of Staten Island Galaxy collisions are spectacular cosmic events taking millions or even billions of years to complete. What's left in the aftermath? In one system, called G515, it looks like a quiet, hidden, supermassive black hole! Dr. Charles Liu will trace the history of this enigmatic object, and investigate the black hole lurk-ing within. He is a professor of astrophysics at the City University of New York's College of Staten Is- land, and an Associate with the Hayden Planetarium and Department of Astrophysics at the American Mu-seum of Natural History in New York. Dr. Liu's research focuses on colliding galaxies, qua-sars, and star formation history. He earned degrees from Harvard University and the University of Arizona, and did postgraduate research at Kitt Peak National Observatory and at Columbia University. Along with academic journals, Dr. Liu also writes the monthly column "Out There" for Natural History Magazine. He received the 2001 American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award for his book "One Universe: At Home In The Cosmos." He lives in New Jersey. 8PM IN THE ROY SMITH THEATER MEMBERSHIP DUES Regular Membership: $21 Sustaining Membership: $31 Sponsoring Membership: $46 Family Membership: $5 First Time Application Fee: $3 Sky & Telescope: $32.95 Astronomy subscription: $34 (Subscription renewals to S&T can be done directly. See "Membrship-Dues" on website for details.) AAI Dues can be paid in person to Membership Chair or Treas-urer, or by mail to: AAI, PO Box 111, Garwood, NJ 07027-0111 DR. LEW'S SEMINARS See Dr. Lew Thomas for possible upcoming seminar topics. (Choice of topic at Dr. Lew's seminars is determined by participants' interest) EMAIL CONTACTS president@asterism.org President of AAI editor@asterism.org Editor of The Asterism Ray Shapp, Editor Deadline for submissions to each month's newsletter is the first Friday of that month. membership@asterism.org AAI Membership Chair trustees@asterism.org All three Trustees of AAI ray@asterism.org Ray Shapp for the website exec@asterism.org Executive Committee plus Trustees QOs@asterism.org All Qualified Observers Info@asterism.org AAI president, corresp. secretary, and computer services chair DOME DUTY SCHEDULE December 28 Team B January 4 Team C January 11 Team D January 18 Team E FRIDAYS AT SPERRY December 28, 2007 Ask The Astronomers Dr. Lew & Staff January 4, 2008 What's Up: A Down-to-Earth Sky Guide Kathleen Quinn Vaccari January 11, 2008 The Solar System Michelle Tofel All schedules above were accurate at time of publication. Please check www.asterism.org for latest informa-tion (click on "Club Activities") January 2008 features a spectacular morning rendezvous between the two brightest planets. When Jupiter first emerges from the solar glare on the 7th, it is 25 degrees to the lower left of Venus. The planets move toward each other in such a way that the distance between them in degrees is always 32 minus the date. On the last day of the month they are just one degree apart! Although no planet can ever pass directly over New Jersey, no planet can ever be seen higher in our sky than Mars. This month the Red Planet is higher than it has been since 1993 and will not appear as high again until 2040. According to Ed Light's research, this is just about one-quarter of a degree south of the maximum northern declination possible. Also, Mars is only three weeks past its opposition from the Sun, and has only faded slightly from its maximum brightness. Observers south of Lake Okeechobee in Florida will actually have to look north of their zenith to see Mars. Mars also has a close conjunction with the northernmost Moon of the month on the 19th. For a rare daytime observation of the planet, use binoculars just before sunset on that date and look for Mars about two lunar diameters below the Moon. The actual conjunction comes about two hours later. Mercury is having its second best evening appearance of the year this month. Binoculars provide the best chance of spotting the planet on the 9th to the lower right of a very thin crescent Moon, just 35 hours past New. Saturn now rises during prime evening viewing hours and is high in the southeast well before midnight. Look for the Ringed Planet near the Moon on the 24th. Finally, the Quadrantid meteor shower is seldom mentioned in this column since its narrow peak often misses our time zone, or else the bright Moon interferes. This year all the celestial geometry is favorable, but we still have to face the sometimes life-threatening cold of January. Look to the northeast just after midnight on the 4th and dress for arctic conditions. Stunning Beauties of Our Solar System by Ken Kremer Symmetrical ISS from Orbit and Earth Following the recently completed mission by the crew of the Space Shuttle Atlantis in June 2007, the Inter-national Space Station (ISS) finally took on a look similar to its final configuration. This view shows the newly expanded station after the addition of the second giant energy producing solar array by the combined work of the crew of STS-117 and the Expedition 15 ISS crew. Each of the arrays is about 240 feet in length. ISS from Orbit Backdropped by the blackness of space and Earth's horizon, the International Space Station recedes from the Space Shuttle Atlantis. This view is from orbiter Atlantis, which undocked from the ISS on June 19, 2007. The two sets of symmetrical solar wings are at-tached to the truss (horizontal). The living modules are at center, perpendicular to the truss, and the robotic arm is seen left of center. Credit: STS-117 Shuttle Crew, NASA http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle/sts- 117/lores/s117e08011.jpg During Fall 2007, two new pressurized modules built in Europe were scheduled to be delivered by space shut-tles to expand the ISS living and science capabilities. The Harmony connecting module built in Italy was deliv-ered as I reported in the Nov 07 Asterism. I discussed these activities in detail at a lecture in Princeton on Sunday Dec 2: "Italy Unveils Cosmic Masterpieces: Italian Contributions to Space Exploration" at the Doro-thea's House of the Italian Cultural Society (see photos). Several AAI members attended. Stunning Beauties of Our Solar System by Ken Kremer ISS from Earth During the two week long mission of Shuttle Atlantis at the ISS, there were several excellent sighting oppor-tunities in the Northeast US of the two spacecraft docked together and also after undocking on June 19 and prior to landing on June 22. The second ISS image in this months report shows a stunning view of the docked ISS-Shuttle complex taken by earthlings from the Clay Observatory near Boston, Massachusetts. Compare these two stunning views taken by earthlings from orbit and earthlings from Boston. This remarkable and sharp image of shuttle Atlantis docked at the International Space Station (ISS) was taken from a distance of 190 nautical miles with a digital video camera and a 25-inch telescope. The tail of Atlantis and its 3 main engines are visible at center, below the solar panels at top left. The truss runs diagonally down and right towards the second solar panel delivered and installed during the STS-117 flight. The Canadian built Space Station Robotic arm is right of the orbiter and the habitable modules lie perpendicular to the truss with Russian Soyuz manned capsule at top right. Sun is shining from the bottom. Credit: Ron Dantowitz, Marek Kozubal, Clay Center Observatory http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0706/atlantisISS_dantowitz.jpg Stunning Beauties of Our Solar System by Ken Kremer Hubble view of CERES and VESTA NASA's DAWN mission, which was the main topic of my AAI lecture in October 2007, is flying through the heavens and on course to be the first spacecraft to orbit and provide close-up views and science of the two most massive bodies in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. For more details on DAWN, please read my launch report from On-site at the Kennedy Space Center in last month's Asterism (Nov 2007), which includes links to all of my online DAWN Guest Blogs at The Planetary Society Weblog. Further information is available in the pre-launch cover story of the 2 July 2007 issue of Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine. DAWN's mission is only made possible via revolutionary ion propulsion technology. Watch for a future Asterism report, which will highlight ion propulsion and a recent tour I organized inside the Princeton University lab at the forefront of this technology. In March 2008, I will host the lab director, Prof. Edgar Choueiri from Princeton, for the monthly AAI lecture. These recent Hubble Space Telescope views of Ceres and Vesta were taken to help scientists plan the DAWN mission and show large variations in surface features and composition. This is a mission devoted to comparative planetology. Three science instruments will study the surface and interior of these last unexplored worlds of our solar system. Ceres and Vesta are about 590 and 330 miles in diameter respectively. Ceres, newly classified by the IAU as a "dwarf" planet, re-sembles the icy moons of the outer solar system and may harbor an internal ocean of liquid water. Vesta is similar to the terrestrial planets of the inner solar system and may exhibit volcanism. In 1801, Ceres was the first asteroid discovered. Link: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2007/27/image/a/format/ web_print/ The DAWN mission Scientific Principal Investigator (PI) Prof. Chris Russell of UCLA, told me in a post-launch interview at the Kennedy Space Center that "about 5% of all known meteorites originate from Vesta. There are no known meteorites from Ceres". DAWN is equipped with three science instruments one each built by Italy, Germany, and the USA. Science Outreach and Exploration Update Ken Kremer AAI General Meeting : Nov 16, 2007 Dr. Kimberly Weaver, an astrophysicist from the NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland was the guest speaker at the AAI November general meeting. I was extremely pleased to host and introduce Kim to an overflow, standing-room-only crowd of over 130 people. Kim is the Associate Director for Science in the Exploration of the Universe Division at NASA Goddard, and she won a NASA Presidential Early Career Award in 1996 to pursue research in extragalactic astronomy. Dr. Kimberly Weaver, from NASA, presents "New Eyes on the Universe: Observing Beyond Hubble with the Chandra and Spitzer Space Telescopes". In Dec 2005, I hosted Kim as Program Chair for the astronomy club in Princeton (AAAP). Credit: Ken Kremer Science Outreach and Exploration Update Ken Kremer AAI General Meeting: Nov 16, 2007 Dr. Kimberly Weaver, from the NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center discussed the cutting edge astronomical knowledge obtainable from different wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum. By comparing and con-trasting images transmitted to Earth by NASA's Great Observatories such as Hubble, Chandra, Spitzer, Comp-ton and more, Kim presented beautiful examples of the spectacular violent processes of the unseen universe beyond what we see in the narrow band of visible light. Science Outreach and Exploration Update Ken Kremer Mars in 3-D at the Explorers Club On 23 April 2007, I presented a comprehensive review of the Mars Rover mission at the Manhattan HQ of this International Society devoted to the advancement of Science and Exploration. This past summer I pub-lished a Mars cover article for the Journal of the Explorers Club which includes interviews with the mission's Principal Investigator, Cornell University Professor Steve Squyres, Pancam Camera lead Scientist Prof. Jim Bell from Cornell, Honeybee Robotics Chairman Steve Gorevan (RAT designer) and the top Mars Rover Land-ing Engineer from JPL, Rob Manning. Below are the cover and first page, both in 3-D. To be "On Mars", you'll need to view this page in color and with red/cyan 3-D anaglyph glasses. Please feel free to contact me for more details about the 11 page article, which reviews the ongoing mission of the Mars rovers "Spirit" and "Op-portunity". As I reported in the Nov 2007 Asterism, the "Opportunity" rover has penetrated the rim of Victoria Crater and has descended into the half-mile wide crater. And check out the view from inside Victoria with my team image reprinted on page 7 of Nov 07 Asterism (reprinted courtesy of Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine, 8 October issue, page 4 and 39). The cover (left) shows "Opportunity" glancing back to its landing site inside "Eagle" crater. Note the crater rim back and right and solar panels in foreground. Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/Explorers Club A portion of the vast and deep Valles Marinaris canyon is shown at right. Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin/G. Neukum Reprinted courtesy of The Explorers Club. Watch for new images from my Mars team published on the cover and inside the January 2008 issue of Spaceflight magazine (from the British Interplanetary Society), to be reprinted in the January 2008 issue of the Asterism. Science Outreach and Exploration Update Ken Kremer Italy in Space at Princeton Lecture "Italy Unveils Cosmic Masterpieces: Italian Contributions to Space Exploration" was the topic of my Sunday, Dec 2 presentation at the Dorothea's House of the Italian Cultural Society (see photos) in Princeton, NJ. Program Brochure: http://www.dorotheashouse.org/DHbrochure07-08.pdf New 3-D posters of Saturn's moon's Hyperion, Iapetus and Dione and the McMurdo panorama from Spirit enjoyed by lovers of Italy and Italian culture in Princeton. Credit: Ken Kremer Please contact me for further information or science outreach presentations. My upcoming talks include: Lawrence Elementary School: Lawrenceville, NJ. Fri, Jan 25, 7 PM. "Mars, Saturn and Asteroids (in 3-D)". Rittenhouse Astronomical Society (RAS) at the Franklin Institute: Philadelphia, PA, Wed, Feb 20, 8 PM. "Lunar, Solar, and Martian Eclipses". Website: http://www.rittenhouseastronomicalsociety.org Astronomical Society of Long Island (ASLI): Old Westbury, LI, NY, Wed, Mar 26, 8:30 PM. "Exploring Mars and Asteroids (in 3-D)". Website: http://www.asliclub.org Raritan Valley Community College Planetarium: Somerville, NJ, Wed, Apr 2, 7:30 PM. "Launching DAWN (and Phoenix): From Behind the Scenes at Kennedy Space Center". Website: http://www.raritanval.edu/planetarium Washington Crossing Nature Center: Titusville, NJ, April 12, 1 PM. "Mars, Saturn, Asteroids and Beyond (in 3-D)". NorthEast Astronomy Forum (NEAF): Suffern, NY, April 26&27. "Launching DAWN" and "Exploring Mars"". Dr. Ken Kremer Email: kremerken@yahoo.com NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador